Baseball and softball organizations periodically publish and update equipment standards and/or requirements including performance limitations for ball bats. It is not uncommon for ball bat manufacturers to adjust the design and/or construction of their ball bats to ensure that such bats satisfy the new or updated standards. In many instances, the challenge is to develop designs that fully satisfy such standards, while providing the player with beneficial characteristics, such as exceptional feel, consistency, reliability and performance.
One recently issued standard is the Bat-Ball Coefficient of Restitution (“BBCOR”) Standard adopted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”) on May 21, 2009. The BBCOR Standard, which becomes effective on Jan. 1, 2011, is a principal part of the NCAA's effort, using available scientific data, to maintain as nearly as possible wood-like baseball bat performance in non-wood baseball bats.
Wood ball bats provide many beneficial features, however, they are prone to failure, and because wooden ball bats are typically solid (not hollow), wooden bats can be too heavy for younger players even at reduced bat lengths. Accordingly, there is a need to produce a ball bat that shares the many of the beneficial characteristics of wood bats without the negative characteristics, such as, limited durability, weight, limited design flexibility, etc. Non-wood bats provide greater design flexibility and are more reliable and durable than wood bats. Non-wood bats include bats formed of aluminum, other alloys, composite fiber materials, thermoplastic materials and combinations thereof.
Many baseball bats currently in the market are not designed or produced to meet the BBCOR Standard including the 0.500 BBCOR bat performance limit. Accordingly, a need exists for baseball bat constructions that can meet the BBCOR Standard including 0.500 BBCOR performance limit while retaining acceptable playability characteristics for players, including durability, feel, weight, etc. Additionally, there is a need for a design change or design improvement that can be made to existing bat constructions that would allow a bat construction that originally exceeds the 0.500 BBCOR to be adjusted with the addition of the design change or improvement to satisfy the 0.500 BBCOR requirement. There is also a need for a baseball bat construction that optimizes the performance of the bat under the BBCOR Standard and the 0.500 performance limit. It would be advantageous to provide a bat configuration or improvement to a bat configuration that can adjust the performance of a ball bat to meet a desired criteria, such as, for example, to perform more like a wood bat.